Seven seasons into an NBA career and most players have pretty much established what they will be.

There are exceptions for sure. Kyle Lowry, for instance, didn’t really become the NBA player he is today until he arrived in Toronto and found both opportunity and a new-found off-season discipline that pushed him to be the NBA all-star Toronto fans rely on today.

That’s rare in the NBA, that kind of mid-career transformation. Lowry didn’t so much re-invent himself as take the expanded opportunity he had found in Toronto, make fundamental changes in his approach to training, eating and body health to shape him into the player who became the foundation for the organization’s success.

Jonas Valanciunas’ path has not been quite as dramatic. He came in a highly prized draft prospect and was afforded things in the game a lower draft pick such as Lowry never would be offered, biggest among those being the minutes to develop his game.

But while Lowry’s development didn’t follow the linear path that Valanciunas’ did, he in turn has not had to suddenly deal with the kind of landscape change the Lithuanian centre has had to face.

The point guard role remains as valued and important in today’s game as it was when Lowry began his career. Sure, the advent of the three-point shot has changed things, but that goes for all positions.

Contrast that with Valanciunas’ situation. When he entered the NBA there was still very much a spot in the game for a big man who could defend the paint and play a back-to-the-basket game that would provide a team some easy points.

That’s no longer enough in the current NBA. Today, a centre has to be versatile enough to venture out to the three-point line and defend centres in the league now that are as comfortable as guards shooting from behind the arc.

Rather than become a dinosaur (in addition to being a Raptor), Valanciunas has adapted with extensive off-season work to improve his foot speed.

Look back at any video of his earlier days and the improvement in his reaction time to a move by a player he is defending, or even his ability to get moving from a standstill, has improved immensely.

Those are changes that have taken place over the past handful of years.

The change this season has been to one that sees him coming off the bench more often than not and playing fewer minutes. That’s something no player would ever ask for, but one that has had its own positive effects when it comes to Valanciunas.

A couple of weeks ago, we broached the subject of less playing time making him potentially fresher when he does get on the court. Valanciunas, as he is wont to do, turned it into a joke, suggesting he believed he had been tired just once to that point in the season.

Valanciunas can turn any conversation into a joke, but the eye test suggests there is a little more “pep in his step” as Dwane Casey liked to say.

There is, indeed, a bounce in Valanciunas’ stride and a lightness that just wasn’t there in previous seasons. It was evident Wednesday night against the Sixers when he overcame a tough start with early foul trouble to play an energetic 18 minutes in which he pumped in a season-high 26 points against one of the tougher covers in the league in Joel Embiid.

Lowry saw it and came away unfazed because that’s the kind of play he has come to expect from Valanciunas.

“I think JV is one of the best offensive bigs there is,” Lowry said. “If it was a post-up game he would be max-max player, but the league has changed a little bit. But when he gets going he, can make shots. He’s big, he’s strong, and I’ve seen him for seven years now and he continues to get better. The feel he has at the offensive end is amazing.”

Nick Nurse, who has been instrumental in helping JV adapt to the new NBA, first in his role as an assistant coach, hen after making the jump to head coach, knows exactly what he has in Valanciunas and which buttons to push.

On Wednesday night, that meant getting the ball in the big man’s hands and letting him go right at Embiid. “I just thought he had a good feel for the game so we went at him with some deep post-ups against Embiid,” Nurse said. “We wanted to get him the ball and I knew Embiid was out there and kind of said: ‘JV, we are going to you. We believe you can score on this dude,’ and he did and drew a couple of fouls.

“It may not seem like the best matchup in the world throwing JV against Embiid but again JV had it going and he did a good job. He was playing that well that we were pumping it into him there in the fourth quarter.”

That’s no longer the norm in today’s NBA, but Valanciunas has proven to be highly adaptable.

LEONARD FINDS RANGE

Kawhi Leonard has been on a little scoring tear these past few games, but Wednesday was a little different. It was only the second time this year that his three-point shot has been the kind of weapon it can be for him.

Only once prior this season has he shot better than 50% from three in a game and that was way back in October against Charlotte when he went 4-for-7 from behind the arc. Wednesday’s 5-for-6 night from distance caught long-time teammate Danny Green’s eye.

“I think we did a pretty good job of getting him the ball to get him in a rhythm early,” Green said. “Also we were just swinging tonight. I think he was the only one, pretty much, hitting shots for us behind the arc.

“It was finding him when he was open. It was good. When he’s hitting those shots it kind of makes the game a lot easier for him.

“His game is more mid-range, pull up to the rim. When he’s hitting threes, it gives him another different dynamic which is very hard to guard.”

TRAP-GAME ALERT

The Raps head into Brooklyn tonight and, despite an eight-game losing skid, the Nets are not a team to sleep on. This team plays hard every night and is capable of taking down anyone on any given night because of that. Coming off a big win over Philadelphia and with Milwaukee on the horizon on Sunday at home, this could be classic trap game for the Raps.

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